


Alchemy of the Soul

by VeryBadMau



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alliumshipping - Freeform, Gift Exchange, Gift Fic, Gift Work, He flex for his man, He tries okay??, It's Kind of Complicated but it isn't, M/M, Requited Unrequited Love, Sealshipping, The Dark Magician is really Dork Magician, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 05:18:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18243146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeryBadMau/pseuds/VeryBadMau
Summary: Yuugi always had something of an attachment to the Dark Magician, but he had also acknowledged the spellcaster was never really his to have—so he thinks. Alliumshipping (Yuugi/Dark Magician) with a touch of Sealshipping (Atem/Mahad). Gift for kampfkewob. One-shot.





	Alchemy of the Soul

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kampfkewob](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=kampfkewob).



> I openly confess I am mixing canons in this story, as I make mentions to DSOD (manga timeline) alongside hints of what happened in the DOMA arc (anime timeline), and I'm more of the impression that the card comparison Yuugi made with Maha Vailo took place after Duelist Kingdom as opposed to before it, but I must say... 
> 
> You cannot see it, but right now, as I write, I am waving my hand in a hypnotic circle and gently pressing my finger to your lips and just—ssshhh. Hush, hush now, my lovelies. Let it be. Let it go. Let it happen.
> 
> This was done as a creative exchange for kampfkewob, a.k.a. yearslateforyugiohshippings, wherein we agreed to give each other's rare pairs some love (Sightshipping art for an Alliumshipping fanfic). It was a great exercise to write about characters I don't normally focus on, and I had a great time writing it, especially towards the middle-end. I hope you like it, kampfkewob! :D
> 
> Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! and its characters are copywritten to Kazuki Takahashi and Konami. I own nothing but my thoughts and the keyboard I implement to exercise them.

* * *

 

Yuugi first saw him on his thirteenth birthday, when he glanced through his grandfather's deck.

 

“Dark Magician?” he whispered. He spread the other small, slim pieces of paper away from the purple mage as he focused on the picture. His right thumb traced across the stars and down the outer edges of the card, and he read the description aloud.

 

“The ultimate wizard in terms of attack and defense.”

 

2500 attack and 2100 defense. Yuugi had seen more powerful cards when he had opened random booster packs, and an ample skeptic would wonder just what made this particular spellcaster so special in terms of stats when the card didn't have an effect for assistance—it was normal. Yet despite the fine details, Yuugi couldn't help but be drawn to the image of the stoic man in violet.

 

“Grandpa?” Yuugi asked from behind the counter. The older man stopped sweeping towards the shop's entrance and looked over his shoulder.

 

“Yes, Yuugi?”

 

He held the card up for his grandfather's inspection. The elder's eyesight wasn't quite what it used to be, but he could still make out the image of the pointed hat and scepter.

 

“Can I borrow this card for one of my decks?”

 

Yuugi knew he was already asking for a lot when his grandfather seemed so protective of his own cards, each individual slip of paper treated as though it were its own entity. Games and the parts thereof were as important to Sugoroku Mutou as the oxygen in his lungs.

 

Serious business.

 

“Well...”

 

Yuugi's shoulders fell at the unsure tone, and the older man scratched the side of his face with an uneasy grin. The card may have been a normal monster, but the rarity was a different matter altogether.

 

“I promise to keep it in a card sleeve,” Yuugi uttered, pleaded, _hoped_.

 

“... Maybe when you're a little older and have a few more tournaments under your belt. We can talk about it then.”

 

A pang shot through Sugoroku's chest as he beheld the crestfallen boy, and another thought came to mind. Perhaps he was being too hasty with his decision.

 

It was his birthday, after all.

 

“Or...”

 

The pain in his heart subsided when he saw the boy's eyes go alight with a small, restrained gasp.

 

“Tell you what: You have two hours to build a deck with whatever is in the shop. If you beat me, you can have it. Best two out of three.”

 

Yuugi agreed without question. Yet as recent as the game of Duel Monsters was, his grandfather was anything but fresh. All the best cards in the shop couldn't contend with the years of skill Sugoroku had accumulated, and Yuugi had a terrible poker face. This did not extinguish his dreams, however, and he kept building, experimenting, playing in between bouts of homework and putting together the golden puzzle that had been gifted to him when he was eight years old, all in the hopes that he could one day be skilled enough to have the Dark Magician in his own deck.

 

He hadn't known, in three years time, that the Dark Magician and all others would be forcibly thrust into his hands as his grandfather quaked and collapsed at his feet.

 

It was the first time he summoned the Dark Magician, and when he should have been trembling with excitement, his heart had instead pounded in his chest and dropped into his stomach when Seto Kaiba summoned his third Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

 

For three years, Yuugi had struggled to win, to earn the right to have the spellcaster in his hands, yet when the chance presented itself, he couldn't even keep the Dark Magician on the field for two turns.

 

Exodia won him the match in the end, but he still felt the sting of failure. As his grandfather was assessed by the doctor and his friends wished him a speedy recovery, Yuugi stood alone in the hospital hallway and pressed the deck against his chest with a wince.

 

“I'm sorry,” Yuugi apologized, to all, and to one. “I guess I wasn't ready.”

 

\- 0 – 0 – 0 -

 

He couldn't fault Jounouchi or Honda for skipping home room. The teacher certainly never seemed to be invested in the class when everyone was bunched around tables and playing card games. Maybe he should have taken them up on the offer to go to Burger World...

 

“So, which card do you think suits you?” Anzu asked, breaking Yuugi out of his daydreaming.

 

“Huh?”

 

“Nevermind, that's a silly question,” Anzu said with a small smile. “I already know the answer. Dark Magician, right?”

 

He stared at the plethora of cards before them with a sheepish grin.

 

“I wish I could say that, but I think the Dark Magician suits my other self better.”

 

He tried to swallow the burn that came with the harsh truth.

 

_Better suited in more ways than one._

 

He instead selected Maha Vailo from his deck and insisted that while the monster wasn't that strong by itself, it had a hidden ability.

 

It was easier than admitting he needed the support of others to be of any use.

 

That was the thought that ran through his head during Bakura's shadow game on the island, and he shuffled awkwardly in the pointed purple boots and heavy shoulder plates, struggling to keep his head straight under the weight of the bulky hat. For a moment, he smiled wryly.

 

He didn't think this was what Anzu had in mind when she had made her initial assumption.

 

_About as close I'll get to him..._

 

\- 0 – 0 – 0 -

 

It was the closest Yuugi had gotten to him, when he felt the warmth of the scepter pointed at his person when he threw himself in front of Shadi.

 

He was not going to watch the Dark Magician disintegrate before the Blue-Eyes White Dragon again.

 

Not because of his negligence.

 

Not like before.

 

There was a brief moment, a millisecond, where he felt a blow of doubt to his stomach, when the mage's turquoise eyes narrowed and seemed so cold and distant, that Yuugi still, somehow, wasn't worthy, but the feeling ebbed and weakened as the Dark Magician lowered his weapon, before the doubt bubbled and simmered at the back of his mind.

 

“Amazing,” Shadi gasped.

 

Yuugi wished he could have said the same.

 

 _No_ , he thought. _Just observant._

 

Yuugi had never seen those large stone tablets in his soul room, much less the Dark Magician.

 

_He isn't here because of me._

 

\- 0 – 0 – 0 -

 

Much later, and somehow still too recent, for what seemed to be an upteenth time, the world's fate rested on his— _their_ shoulders, and Yuugi held the hand of his other self as they floated in front of the icy statue of the great dragon Timaeus. It was a heavy moment, as they all were, but Yuugi couldn't help feeling disappointed, and regrettably very selfish, as he glanced around the room, across the weary, frightened faces of the spirits, and over the Dark Magician Girl's shoulder.

 

Even now, in the presence of his other self, he still wasn't there.

 

\- 0 – 0 – 0 -

 

He was there, in his entirety, and Yuugi knew he wouldn't have the chance to say “Goodbye.”

 

Across time and space and whatever was in between, the Dark Magician came to serve his master in the final battle. The duel itself was already a heavy weight in his heart, a duty he did not wholly want, but had to be fulfilled. The responsibility of his role did not leave him feeling noble or accomplished, and the guilt did not fade as he watched, _heard_ the Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl wail against the Silent Magician's burst of light.

 

In the final turn, Yuugi revealed he had sealed away Monster Reborn. Logic dictated the resurrection of an Egyptian God, but the decision was driven by sentiment.

 

He couldn't bear to see him eradicated by his hand again.

 

\- 0 – 0 – 0 -

 

He only returned because of the Pharaoh.

 

Even in the final throes, Yuugi knew it wasn't his will that called him forth to end that duel with Diva. He tried not to think about it too hard, and told himself to be happy, to have Atem cross that threshold across dimensions, for them to be united again, if just for a moment. Yet Yuugi knew in his heart that Palladium Oracle Mahad wouldn't have been at the top of his deck otherwise.

 

_He's only here because of you._

 

\- 0 – 0 – 0 -

 

He had omitted Dark Magician from his deck altogether.

 

Truth be told, between college and game design, he hadn't played it in years.

 

He still dueled, casually these days; it was just not with _him_ in mind.

 

Yuugi didn't give the card back to his grandfather. As silly as it was, he could never bring himself to leave Dark Magician behind, but he refused to summon him. Not since then...

 

He didn't know why he still carried him, protected in a small, clear sleeve specifically printed for the card's dimensions, slipped into another soft sleeve with a matte purple backing, and sealed in a hard display case with small screws on the corners. Yuugi may as well have had him mounted on a placard for all the preservation, but then the card wouldn't have fit so well in his everyday carry bag.

 

He sighed as he placed the Dark Magician under his pillow and clicked off the light on his nightstand. He had some reprieve from his internship abroad, but still had business to attend to while he was visiting family in Domino. There was a not-quite-meeting with Seto Kaiba tomorrow, and he furrowed his brow as he thought of the card under his head with a guilty, pitiful curl to his lip. Surely, even Kaiba-kun didn't go through such lengths for his Blue-Eyes.

 

Then again, Seto still played with Blue-Eyes, and Yuugi squinted his eyes shut.

 

He told himself the burn at the corners of his eyes was a product of jet-lag and staring at a cellphone for longer than the manufacturer intended, and he massaged the lids with his fingertips before turning to his side and burying his face in the pillow.

 

It was foolish to feel even mildly envious.

 

It was foolish to have felt anything at all.

 

Yuugi tried to clear his head, tried not to think of decorated temples among dunes of sand, tried not to linger on long departed spirits and futile notions, of things unsaid and ultimately unrequited.

 

 _I_ _mpossible_.

 

Yuugi didn't want to _feel_ in that moment. He wanted to drift, to be weightless, to be overtaken and carried off into a dreamless slumber. At the very least, that was not so much as possibility, but given how tired he was, something that was likely.

 

Expected.

 

Routine.

 

Standard.

 

Ordinary.

 

So Yuugi could not help but think it was rather odd when he abruptly “woke up” in his black sleeping tank and grey sweatpants in the middle of a library.

 

At least, he thought it was a library. It was a dark, shadowy place that looked like something out of a medieval illustration, but it also felt very alien with the fluorescent green glow bouncing off a series of seals and multi-pointed stars, rotating, vibrating, floating and flickering among the packed shelves and thick, leather bound volumes. He looked down and a light wave of nausea ran through his head as he registered that he was standing on top of yet another glowing seal, not quite like the Orichalchos from all those years ago, but still unnerving to behold and unsettling to his stomach as it appeared as though the wooden floor was moving beneath him. Yuugi looked away and bit back the bile rising in his throat, coughing lightly as he inhaled a puff of smoke. Had that been hovering around him the entire time as well?

 

Yuugi raised a hand and waved the cloud away from his face as he kept his other hand pressed to his lips to prevent himself from retching due to the motion sickness. The scent wasn't entirely terrible, yet not entirely welcome either, but when the rough, smokey tinge cleared itself from his sinuses, he picked up another smell he hadn't been expecting.

 

It was something savory, like a soup broth with... garlic? Onions?

 

In a library?

 

“Haha! _Finally_ , it worke—”

 

Yuugi jumped and tensed as the sudden declaration was interrupted by a terse cough. He looked over his shoulder and his jaw lost some feeling.

 

No, it couldn't be.

 

… Yet again, this wouldn't have been the first time he had arrived in another dimension with little explanation. Funny how that worked out for him.

 

The source of the voice was a tall man with angular features, his skin a mint green hue and darkly lined eyes that glowed with an arctic quality, illuminating the long, stark white strands that framed his face and cascaded over his shoulders. He wore black armor with silver engravings and embellishments at its edges, all of it shining in the eerie green light of the bubbling cauldron he was currently looming over. He straightened his posture and adjusted the heavy, pointed hat atop his head, tapping the ground once with his large, stylized scepter-wand as he turned his chin upward and regarded Yuugi at his spot in the center of the room with a collected smile.

 

“So you have arrived. As I willed it.”

 

His voice was piercing, crystal clear with a small echo clinging to the end of each sentence, and he looked away from Yuugi as he summoned a book and quill with the wave of his hand. The pages flipped of their own volition, and he appeared to cross something out as he muttered lowly to himself behind the tome.

 

“Nine alliums, not seven...”

 

Before Yuugi could ask what was going on, the rattle of chains and a loud thumping noise caught his attention, and it was then that he noticed a sizable black treasure chest beside the spellcaster's cauldron. Should he have been worried that it looked like the chains around it were being strained? Was the chest supposed to be inching along the floor like that? Were those [_weeds_ ](https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Tentacle_Plant)coming out of the wood?

 

“Um...”

 

“Take this book and put it in the case at the back of my study,” said the spellcaster quickly. The tome floated and glowed with a green light before it settled into Yuugi's hands. “Down and to the left, at that entryway you see there. Yes, there. Place it in any space you can find, if you please. I will organize it later.”

 

Yuugi furrowed his brow, looking between the book and the armored mage before he did as he was told. He wasn't sure why it was necessary to put the book away for him when the man seemed perfectly capable of just floating it over to the case in question, but Yuugi decided it was a question that ranked rather low on the list he was making in his head. When Yuugi made the turn out of the room and spotted a slot in one of the endless bookcases towards the back ( _was_ there a back to this place?), he could have sworn he heard something like metal snapping and a window slamming open along with muffled curses and a high-pitched, otherworldly shriek that quickly faded from his ears. There was another slam, a huff, and a metallic clinking sound like a key turning in a lock. What was going on in there?

 

Having put the book away, Yuugi returned to the room and poked his head around the corner. The mage stood in front of the cauldron with a stoic air about him, regally postured with his scepter in one hand while the other rested on his hip, and the steam from the cauldron circled his person in an impressive display. He regarded Yuugi with an imperious tilt of his chin.

 

“You had no trouble finding a spot, I see.”

 

“Uh, yeah, no trouble at all,” Yuugi said meekly, pointing to the space beside the mage's foot. “What happened to the chest?”

 

“What chest?”

 

A long, awkward silence passed between them, and Yuugi couldn't see the small droplet of sweat that was forming underneath the spellcaster's helmet.

 

“... Nevermind,” Yuugi uttered. It probably wasn't important.

 

He turned his attention to the floor and shut his eyes when the seal reminded him of his motion sickness. The mage took the opportunity to exhale quickly and wipe the sweat from his brow before resuming his calm composure as Yuugi opened his eyes again.

 

Another long, odd silence passed between them, and Yuugi rubbed the back of his neck as the tall mage approached him, punctuating each step with a tap of his scepter on the floor before he stood an arm's length from his person.

 

“I was your favorite,” said the magician sharply, and Yuugi winced.

 

“Um...”

 

“What happened?”

 

Yuugi felt an unpleasant heat gather under his palm as he continued to massage the back of his neck. He turned his attention to one of the bookcases and frowned, unable to find the words. The spellcaster narrowed his eyes and leaned over to match Yuugi's height, peering at his face.

 

“I have not been summoned in five years' time. Why is this?” he asked brusquely. Yuugi flinched at the tone, and the mage interrupted him before he could find the answer.

 

“How does the greatest wizard go from having a person's favor to being cast aside for the [fruit](https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Lemon_Magician_Girl) [mages](https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Apple_Magician_Girl)?” He spread out one arm and flicked his wrist to emphasize the sentiment. A subtle, pensive sound slipped through Yuugi's lips as he avoided eye contact.

 

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to 'cast you aside'. I just... I didn't think you would want...”

 

He dared to look at the Dark Magician's face, for a second, and upon locking with the arctic white gaze, Yuugi quickly shifted his attention to the ceiling.

 

“It didn't _feel_ right.”

 

The Dark Magician regarded him with a sideways glance and pursed lips.

 

“What reason do you think this?” He stopped, and reworded his phrase. “Why would you _feel_ this way?”

 

“Well... Because... you know...”

 

_Please don't make me say it._

 

An all too familiar sting spread in Yuugi's chest with a deep, uncomfortable breath in reflection, squeezing the back of his neck with one hand as the other clenched in a fist at his side.

 

“No, I do not know,” the spellcaster replied with an arched brow as he straightened his posture, crossing his arms across his chest and tucking the wand between them. “Enlighten me.”

 

The sting in his chest shot up through his neck and into his eyes, and Yuugi had to anchor himself. He was in his twenties; he wasn't going to cry like a naive child before his unrequited— _impossible_ — card crush. His voice shook with a hopeless sigh as he loosened his grip on his neck, but still couldn't summon the courage to look up into his eyes.

 

“I know what he was to you, Mahad—”

 

“Please do not call me by that name.”

 

Yuugi's eyes widened with a confused blink.

 

 _What_?

 

“That is the name of the priest,” said the spellcaster. The disdain was palpable, and Yuugi dropped his hand from his neck as the pain in his heart shifted to vexation.

 

“Um... yes?” Yuugi said carefully, pointing vaguely at the tall man in black armor with a sideways look. “Are you not the priest?”

 

The mage looked disheartened and his shoulders slumped.

 

“I am the _magician_.”

 

Yuugi almost couldn't believe his eyes. Was he... pouting?

 

“Yes, the Dark Magician,” Yuugi said simply, and the tall mage nodded in agreement with a squint. “But I thought... I mean, back then, the ka, and his ba... I know he sacrificed himself and you both fused so—”

 

“Joined,” the magician said pointedly, holding his index finger between them to illustrate the correction.

 

“What?” Yuugi asked.

 

“ _Joined_. We were joined. We did not _fuse_. They are very different things.”

 

Yuugi rubbed his forehead and his eyes flickered back and forth across the room.

 

“But I thought the ka was a reflection of one's soul?”

 

“Yes. Key word: _reflection_. You look at a mirror, and you see that it is yourself, but what you _see_ is not _you_. Yes?”

 

Yuugi still had a hard time processing the new information, and not-quite-a-word dripped from his mouth.

 

“Um.”

 

The Dark Magician spread his arms as he explained.

 

“A mirror may reflect, but it cannot _duplicate_. A polished plain looks perfect to the naked eye, but upon closer inspection, there are minute blemishes to the surface that make it incapable of _capturing_ the true self. Do you understand?”

 

_Not exactly._

 

“So... you're the priest's doppelganger?” Yuugi asked, thinking back to those tumultuous days in his teens. _Mou hitori no boku_.

 

“You're the dark self?”

 

“ _No_.”

 

The spellcaster closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, slumping his shoulders with a frustrated sigh as he leaned his wand against a bookcase.

 

“Perhaps I am being too cryptic. Observe.”

 

With a swipe of his hand, a trail of neon-green wisps followed his fingertips and a large black board materialized between them.

 

“To be _joined_ is not to be _fused,_ ” he repeated, and a piece of chalk formed in his hand with a snap. “Let us look first, at the Sphinx.”

 

He turned his back and his body blocked whatever he was drawing on the black board. Yuugi heard the quick, chalky scrawls and taps, seeing the armored elbow moving in quick succession for several seconds before the magician pulled himself to the side to reveal his diagram.

 

Yuugi retained an uneasy grin as a small droplet of sweat formed at his cheek. Had the magician not told him, he wouldn't have been certain what he was looking at. Pegasus' toon monsters were more proportional by comparison.

 

“The head of a human, the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle,” said the Dark Magician, referring to the poorly drawn bits with the end of the chalk piece. “All different parts, but they work together as an entity, for they are one. Yes?”

 

Yuugi nodded simply.

 

“Now, we look at the Chimera,” said the spellcaster, and Yuugi was trying very hard not to laugh at the subsequent drawing. “The head of a lion on one side, the head of a goat on the other, a wriggling snake at the end, all attached to the same body, but they are not synchronous. The goat wants to graze in peace, the lion wants to consume what rests on its own shoulder, and the snake wants to hide under a rock. They are _intertwined_ , but they are not united. So, to reiterate.”

 

He pointed at the Sphinx.

 

“ _Fused_.”

 

Then to the Chimera.

 

“ _Joined_.”

 

With the clap of his hands, the board and the piece of chalk disappeared in a puff of smoke, and he held his open palms out to Yuugi.

 

“Am I clear?”

 

This time, Yuugi held eye contact for longer than a handful of seconds, and he leaned his head to one side in curiosity.

 

“So, are you the lion or the goat?” Violet eyes traced their surroundings, noting the expanse of tomes, seals, and trinkets, with nary a picture or painting in sight. “Or the snake?”

 

“I am what I am,” said the magician. “I am my own.”

 

Yuugi hid his unsure frown behind his hand. That wasn't exactly the most concrete answer.

  
“Are you human?”

 

“I am magic,” replied the spellcaster, flexing his fingers and making a small show of the sparks and smoke he summoned around his person. “I am myself.”

 

Yuugi bit his lip at that. He remembered taking Introductory Philosophy his first semester in college, but it would have been an outright lie if he claimed to retain much of it beyond his exams. Perhaps if he had, he would have been capable of more interesting conversation with whoever (whatever?) was standing in front of him.

 

“Then... I take it you've been around a while?”

 

Yuugi grimaced inwardly the moment the words left his mouth. Wow, what a profound question for what may have been the very embodiment of magic itself. How deep. How thoughtful. How impressive.

 

_I'm an idiot._

 

The Dark Magician regarded him with a cool air and a timely wind blew about his person as he reached for his staff, a wandering seal with text Yuugi couldn't decipher rolling just behind his head as he stretched his hand out with a flourish. It would have been the ideal illustration for a trading card.

 

“I was already old when the glowing stones fell upon the city of Atlantis, and I was much older when I _allowed_ _myself_ to be sealed away in the tablet.”

 

Yuugi noted the emphasis on the words that hinted to all except a willful allowance of one's entrapment, but he decided it was best not to comment on it. Instead, he asked another question.

 

“So... are you separate from the priest right now?” Yuugi hoped he didn't sound too timid with the words. He flinched as the spellcaster swung his wand and held it to the ceiling with a triumphant bark.

 

“YES!”

 

Yuugi didn't have much time to react when the magician tossed his wand aside and took him in his arms to swing him in a circle.

 

“On the day of the Ceremonial Duel, those chains were broken! The Pharaoh ascended, and with him went his loyal servant!”

 

He set Yuugi back onto the ground and rested his hands on his shoulders with an emphatic smile.

 

“For three thousand years, I was _stuck_ to that annoying cleric, and _you_ freed me from his accursed spell. I knew you could do it!”

 

A bright flush ran across Yuugi's cheeks, and his fingers twitched at his sides.

 

“I-I had no idea,” Yuugi said quietly, looking down at the magician's chest. “I didn't think... Well, whenever something, er, 'magical' came up back then, you didn't seem like you wanted to talk much, so I just thought—”

 

“Of course not. He would never let _me_ speak,” the magician interrupted with a perturbed glare in recollection. “You know how it is, surely, having to share a body. Only the Pharaoh seemed more _gracious_ in giving you a turn, though it's hard to say how that would have played out otherwise. It _drags_ after the first three centuries, I tell you!”

 

Yuugi felt some regret as he removed his hands from his shoulders and turned away to walk back towards his cauldron.

 

“The priest may have his king in his palace. I much prefer the company of my books.”

 

There was a soft pause then, and Yuugi's eyes traced over the dark den before he looked down at the summoning circle at his feet. The Dark Magician claimed to be content on his own, but then why would he go through all the trouble?

 

_It has been five years._

 

“But books don't always keep your attention?” Yuugi asked aloud.

 

“There are only so many words, so many pages to interpret and assess. I have many books to keep me occupied, for a time, but an ageless mind and a thirst for knowledge makes for a frenzied heart, and a book inevitably _end_ _s_. Nothing truly changes here. It's not quite what one could call 'organic'.”

 

 _He's_ _lonely_ , Yuugi realized.

 

“So, after spending some time in your study, you wanted to take a moment to be around... people?”

 

Yuugi had wanted to say “around _me?_ ”, but he feared that would have come off as a tad egocentric.

 

Yet, if the magician took the time to summon him, then maybe—

 

“ _People_ are irksome and predictable.”

 

Yuugi shrank at the bitter tone and curled his hands just below his chest with a grimace. Perhaps he had gotten too hopeful, had the wrong impression...

 

“People are repetitive. People are troublesome. People are what they are and have always been. _People_ do not interest me.”

 

Yuugi winced and bit his lip at the declaration, internally yelling at himself for being so foolish. The magician, the _entity_ before him had power of which he couldn't begin to imagine, had seen things of which he couldn't begin to dream, could conjure the world's wonders at his fingertips.

 

He was just a person.

 

He felt like a bumbling preteen all over again, the same kid who kept begging for something he didn't deserve and would never earn.

 

Would never have.

 

He cursed at himself when he felt a wet sheen coat his eyes, and he fought the urge with every fiber of his being despite knowing he was too far along to stop it. He was going to cry, right there, in front of his longtime crush.

 

_Just great._

 

The room became a black and green blur as he struggled and failed to keep the tears from building at the corners of his eyes, and he gasped when a flurry of purple stars filled his vision.

 

The Dark Magician held the flowers with one hand as he reached out with the other, wiping away the tears with his thumb. While he busied himself with the task, he leaned forward and murmured in his ear.

 

“ _A_ _person_ is interesting.”

 

The magician pulled away gently, and stared into the wet violet eyes as he curled his hands around Yuugi's, urging him to take the flowers. The younger man shook and gripped the long stems with a purpose, blushing madly and smiling in disbelief.

 

There was no way this was really happening.

 

“I don't think a person would be all that interesting to a spirit...” Yuugi whispered. He made a motion to avert his eyes to the flowers, but the Dark Magician softly pinched his chin between his fingers and encouraged him to maintain eye contact.

 

“A person is too humble given their accomplishments,” the Dark Magician said gingerly. “But, perhaps that is what makes a person interesting.”

 

Yuugi tittered with a sniffle and dabbed at his eyes with the back of his wrist, and the magician's eyes reflected the sparkle that bounced off the vibrant bouquet. His smile was brilliant, but it shrank as a thought crossed his own mind, and for the first time, Yuugi saw a flash of worry across the magician's features.

 

“Is a spirit interesting?”

 

Yuugi couldn't help but laugh lightly at that, beaming as he pressed the flowers against his chest with a single nod.

 

“Very interesting.”

 

Relief washed over the magician's face and he exhaled with a simper, daring to reach forward again and cup the younger man's face in his hands. Yuugi _still_ couldn't believe this was happening. This was a dream. It _had_ to be a dream, and he didn't want to wake up. He couldn't stop himself from chuckling nervously as the magician inched closer to his face, and he blushed so hard he could feel the heat rising in his ears. He felt so light, so weightless in that moment, as though he were a cluster of dandelion seeds set to scatter and take off in a passing breeze.

 

Yuugi didn't have time to register that he was, quite literally, being blown away in pieces. A jolt of panic filled the Dark Magician's arctic eyes, and the spellcaster grabbed desperately at the glowing, swirling petals before him.

 

“Yuugi! Yuugi, _no_! Damn it! _Damn it!_ How many of those blasted bulbs do I have to—”

 

\- 0 – 0 – 0 -

 

With a twitch, Yuugi's eyes shot open and his shoulders jerked. He raised the upper half of his body and rubbed at his eyes, hoping to see shelves lined with leather bound tomes and spinning seals, but he had no such luck. He was back in his old room, back in the game shop, in Domino, in Japan, in his dimension, and he sighed wearily as he flopped back into his pillow.

 

It really was just a dream.

 

The pang of disappointment punched him in the gut and spread to his chest, and he knitted his brow with another sad sigh as he reached underneath his pillow for the card. His fingers brushed against the hard plastic casing, a familiar texture after all these years, but he blinked once, twice, and pursed his lips in confusion when he felt something different, something softer, beside the card.

 

Yuugi lifted his head and rested on his forearm, moving the pillow away with his free hand and squinting as his eyes were flooded with a burst of light. When he blinked away the little sparks in his vision, he looked down at the source, and he almost couldn't believe what he was looking at.

 

_Alliums._

 

The cluster of purple flowers had been squished under the pressure of his head, but the petals still glowed with a soft, nourishing light, and the expression on the Dark Magician card was not as severe as he remembered.

 

With a small smile, Yuugi picked up a flower, closed his eyes, and savored the scent of the purple star.

 

_Very interesting._

 

**END**

**Author's Note:**

> The allium Dark Magician was using specifically in this story is the Allium cristophii, better known as the Star of Persia or the Persian onion. They are decorative onions cherished more for their flowers than their contribution to Iranian cuisine, but it is my understanding that the bulbs are edible and the plant will emit an onion-y smell when it's crushed, so I imagine it would be aromatic if you threw it into a magical stew, like the Dark Magician did here. Maybe he should have chucked twelve in there instead of nine. Better luck next time, fella.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


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